Brazil: Forensic Team Exhumes Leader’s Remains

A team of forensic experts on Wednesday began exhuming the remains of João Goulart, the Brazilian president ousted in a 1964 coup supported by the United States, to examine whether he was poisoned by spies while living in exile in Argentina. The authorities carried out the exhumation in São Borja, a city in southern Brazil, at the urging of Mr. Goulart’s family. They are seeking to examine a claim by a former Uruguayan intelligence operative that Mr. Goulart was assassinated by agents of Operation Condor, a joint campaign by South American military dictatorships in the 1970s and ’80s to eliminate political dissidents. Mr. Goulart had long been thought to have died from natural causes. Officials said that his remains would be flown to the capital, Brasília, to undergo testing.

A version of this brief appears in print on November 14, 2013, on Page A15 of the New York edition with the headline: Brazil: Forensic Team Exhumes Leader’s Remains. Order Reprints|Today's Paper|Subscribe